Living life while either being married or in a long-term relationship can be tough, as their life revolves around practices, game plans, tactics, and a season that never ends. This life is filled with different highs and lows of the game, as well as long hours, and the coaching game doesn’t stop when the game ends. Almost every coach on the field has someone waiting on the sidelines for them after every game, as they hold their lives together.

Looking at these relationships from the outside sounds like a dream, with game days, the roars of the crowd, and the thrills of a big win; it becomes easy to enjoy the fun times. On the other side, it also includes late dinners, weekends alone, waiting for them to come home after a long road trip, and the possibility that they might have to get up and move at any point.

One of these coaches is Kade Warner, who is from Arizona and met his now-wife, Abby, at Kansas State University. He started his coaching career at a junior college in Arizona before coming to Quincy. He is aware of the strain that coaching puts on his wife.

“The aspect of the job that stresses me out the most is traveling. I know I’m asking my wife to bring a little extra stuff home with me every time I pack a bag for a new recruiting trip or game. She never moans, but I can sense the pressure because of the sacrifice she makes for me to pursue this dream,” Warner said.

For different coaches, they didn’t have to go far from where they grew up. Taylor Reis was a Quincy native, having played for Quincy Notre Dame and competed in collegiate soccer at Quincy University. He is now back at his alma mater as the head women’s soccer coach. He met his wife while at QND, and they are now married with two children, Olive and Daisy. The one thing he says he loves is watching his kids come down to the field and watch him coach the players.

“Nothing compares to seeing my children in the stands when I’m watching from the sidelines. It reminds me why I do this. Even though they might not comprehend every play, it means the world to me that they see their dad doing what he loves,” Reis said.

Whether someone is the head coach of a team or an assistant who cleans laundry, knowing they have someone at home base supporting them and their families means the world to the coaches. The spouse has learned that it takes resilience, teamwork, and trust, no matter what the result is on or off the field of play.